JPH10190812A - Electronic telephone directory and communication terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic telephone directory in which desired data are found out in a short time with a small number of key operations, with an easy key operation and superior operability and to provide a communication terminal equipment provided with the electronic telephone directory. SOLUTION: Data, including names and telephone numbers of communication opposite parties, are stored and the data are divided every prescribed numbers in the stored order or all data are classified into groups depending on which a line of Japanese 50 syllables a top syllable of a name belongs to. Operation keys which are operated for total 8 directions of upper/lower, left/right and oblique directions are provided, the data in one group are sequentially retrieved by the operation for the upper/lower directions and a group being an object of retrieval is revised by the operations for the other directions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic telephone directory and a communication terminal provided with the electronic telephone directory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a communication terminal device is provided with an electronic telephone directory for storing a large number of data including the name and telephone number of a communication partner and searching for and displaying a telephone number of a desired communication partner from the stored data. Has been done. In a communication terminal device having an electronic telephone directory, it is possible to make a call by directly using the searched telephone number, and thereby the input operation of the telephone number can be omitted.

In the electronic telephone directory, in addition to keys for data input, a memory for storing data, a display device for displaying data, a CPU for performing a search process, and a CPU for searching the next data. There is provided a scroll key for giving an instruction to perform. The search is performed in the order in which the data is stored. That is, the CPU first reads the first data from the memory and displays it on the display device, and reads and displays the next data stored every time the scroll key is operated.

[0004]

However, if the search is always performed in the order in which the data is stored, if the desired data is near the end of the storage, many key operations are required until the desired data is found. Takes time. This inconvenience becomes more pronounced as more data is stored, and operability is significantly impaired, especially when tens or hundreds of data are stored.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic telephone directory in which desired data can be found in a short time with a small number of key operations, key operations are easy, and excellent operability, and a communication terminal device having the same. With the goal.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a plurality of data including a communication partner's name and a telephone number are stored, and the stored data is sequentially read out according to a key operation. In the electronic telephone directory to be displayed, the stored data is classified into groups, one of the classified groups is set as a search target, and the data of the search target group is sequentially read out and displayed by a first key operation. And
The group to be searched is changed by the second key operation, and the data of the new group to be searched is read and displayed.

One group is searched by the first key operation, and data in the group is sequentially read and displayed. The group to be searched is changed by the second key operation. When the search target group is changed, data in the newly searched target group is read and displayed. However, unless the first key operation is performed, data in the group is not sequentially read and displayed. If the second key operation is repeated, the search target group changes one after another, but at this time, all data of the group to be searched in the middle is not sequentially read and displayed.

The data may be classified into groups of 50 tones according to which of the 50 sounds, such as "A line" and "KA line", the first sound of the name belongs to. It is clear which group the data is included in, and it is possible to determine which group is searched by just looking at the name of the displayed data. The physical arrangement order of the data in the storage area does not necessarily have to follow the classification based on the first sound of the name.

[0009] The data may be classified into groups of a predetermined number according to the stored order. The time required to read and display all data in a group is the same for all groups. Here, the stored order is the logical arrangement order of the data in the storage area. For example, when the data is logically arranged according to the “Aioe” order of the name, the order is the order, and the stored time is Arranging the data according to the order results in that order. In the latter case, the logical order usually matches the physical order of the data in the storage device.

The above-mentioned electronic telephone directory is provided with operating members capable of operating in four directions, ie, up and down, left and right, and oblique to these directions. The left and right operations and the diagonal operations are the second key operations, and the data read by the second key operations is different between the left and right operations and the diagonal operations. Such operation members include a trackball, a joystick, a cross key, and the like.

[0011] In this configuration, both the sequential reading and display of the data in the search target group and the change of the search target group are performed by operating a single operation member. When changing the search target group,
The data read and displayed differs between when a left-right operation is performed and when a diagonal operation is performed. For example, the operation in the left-right direction and the operation in the diagonal direction are performed by reading data in absolute order from the head in the group, and relative order based on the order in the group of data read before the change. And data reading.

The time for displaying data may be changed according to the number of data displayed by key operation. The display time of individual data changes according to the number of data included in the group to be searched when the first key operation is performed and according to the number of groups when the second key operation is performed. Let it. If the display time of one piece of data is shortened, more data will be displayed in a fixed time. Even if one group contains many data or data is classified into many groups, it is necessary for search. Time is shortened.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned electronic telephone directory is provided in a communication terminal device, and a call is transmitted using a telephone number included in the displayed data. That is, instead of the user re-entering the displayed telephone number, a call is made using the displayed telephone number directly.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a portable telephone will be described as an example. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a portable telephone 1 of the present embodiment. Phone 1 is C
PU 11, ROM 12, RAM 13, communication control unit 14,
A key operation unit 15 and a display unit 16 are provided. CPU
Reference numeral 11 controls the entire operation of the telephone 1, including the functions of the electronic telephone directory. The communication control unit 14 includes an audio input / output circuit including a microphone and a speaker, a transmission circuit that converts input audio into a transmission signal and transmits the signal, and a reception circuit that receives the signal and extracts the audio signal. , And functions as a telephone.

The ROM 12 stores a program describing control processing performed by the CPU 11 and various parameters necessary for control. The RAM 13 stores information temporarily required by the CPU 11 for control processing, and also stores the name and telephone number of a registered communication partner as data in the electronic telephone directory. The RAM 13 is constantly supplied with power from a battery power supply (not shown), and its stored contents are retained even when the telephone 1 is not used.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the appearance of the key operation unit 15 and the display unit 16. FIG. The display unit 16 is composed of a liquid crystal display, and displays a telephone number input from the key operation unit 15 at the time of dialing, and displays a name and a telephone number in registering and searching data in the electronic telephone directory.

The key operation unit 15 includes ten keys 21 of "1" to "0", an asterisk (*) key 22, a sharp (#) key 23, an off-hook key 24, an on-hook key 25, a telephone directory key 26, and a scroll key 27. And a first key group (FIG. 2) consisting of alphabet keys 31 of "A" to "Z", a space key, a hyphen key, an arrow key, a conversion key, a next candidate key, a previous candidate key, and a registration key 3
2. The second consisting of the delete key 33 and the group key 34
(FIG. 3).

The other keys of the first key group except the telephone directory key 26 and the scroll key 27 operate the telephone. The telephone directory key 26 and the scroll key 27 are used for data retrieval of the electronic telephone directory. By operating the telephone directory key 26, one of the electronic telephone directory data stored in the RAM 13 is read and displayed on the display unit 16, and the other data is read by operating the scroll key 27. Is displayed.

The scroll key 27 is a trackball that can be operated in four directions of upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right in addition to operations in four directions of left, right, upper, and lower. is there. The CPU 11 performs different data search processing according to the operation of the scroll key 27 in these eight directions, as described later. Operation members that can be operated in eight directions include a joystick and a cross key in addition to a trackball. Modifications using a joystick and a cross key as the scroll keys 27 are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively.

The second key group is used for registering and managing data in the electronic telephone directory. The alphabet key 31 is used for inputting a name, and includes a conversion key, a next candidate key,
The previous candidate key converts the entered alphabet into kanji. The space key, hyphen key, and arrow key assist in the operation of inputting a name. The telephone number to be registered together with the name as data is input by operating the ten keys 21 of the first key group.

A registration key 32 is used to register data in the electronic telephone directory, and a delete key 33 is used to delete data. By operating these keys, one item of data is written to the RAM 13 or one item of the written data is deleted.

Data consisting of a name and a telephone number is stored in the order of registration from the top of the electronic telephone directory data storage area of the RAM 13. However, instead of searching one item at a time in the order of storage, all data is classified into groups by two methods, and data is searched according to one of the classifications. Classification of data into groups is performed as follows.

The CPU 11 assigns a serial number to the data stored in the RAM 13 in the order of the name “Aioeo”, divides the data by a predetermined number from the head in the order of the serial number, and forms a group including a fixed number of data. I do. This is the first classification.

The order of the serial numbers does not match the arrangement order of the data in the recording area. Therefore, the CPU 11 creates an address table showing the relationship between the serial numbers and the addresses of the data, and stores it in another area of the RAM 13. CPU11
Reads out individual data by referring to the address table at the time of retrieval. The data serial number and address table are updated each time new data is registered.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a group according to the first classification. In this example, all 37 data are classified into 8 groups of 5 data. Only the last group has a smaller number of constituent data than the other groups. Dakuon and semi-dull sounds are treated as clear sounds.

The CPU 11 determines which data in the order of "Aioe" of the name belongs to which line of the 50 sounds, ie, which of the 10 lines from "A line" to "Wa line". Judge and classify the data by row. This is the second classification. Also according to the second classification, the CPU 1
1 reads out individual data from the storage area with reference to the above-mentioned address table.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a group according to the second classification. The data shown here is the same as the data in FIG. In the second classification, the number of data constituting a group differs for each group.

The group key 34 gives an instruction as to which of the first category and the second category the data search should be performed. By operating the group key 34,
The user can switch the classification at any time to search for data.

The operation of the telephone 1 relating to data retrieval of the electronic telephone directory will be described below. FIG.
2 shows a flow of a control process performed by the server. When any of the first keys is operated (step S5), the CPU 11 determines whether or not the first key group is the telephone directory key 26 (S10). If the telephone directory key 26 has been operated, the mode shifts to a telephone directory mode for performing data search (S15). If the operated key is not the telephone directory key, it is determined whether or not the key is the numeric keypad 21 (S20). If the key is the numeric keypad, a calling process using the telephone number input therefrom is performed (S2).
5) If it is not a numeric key, a process corresponding to the key is performed (S30).

FIG. 9 shows a flow of the control process of the CPU 11 in the telephone directory mode. This control process is used commonly for the search based on the first classification and the search based on the second classification. First, the CPU 11 reads the first data of the first group that has been classified, and displays its name and telephone number on the display unit 16 (step S105). Next, it is determined in which direction the scroll key 27 has been operated (S110 to S130).

When the operation of the scroll key 27 is in the downward direction, the data after the displayed data of the group to which the displayed data belongs is read out and displayed (S13).
5). When the last data in the group is displayed, the first data in the group is read and displayed. In the case of an upward operation, the data immediately before the data being displayed of the group to which the data being displayed belongs is read out and displayed (S140). If the first data in the group is displayed, the last data of the group is read and displayed.

By repeating these vertical operations, data in the same group can be sequentially read and displayed. That is, the operation of the scroll key 27 in the up-down direction is used for data retrieval within one group. A downward operation performs a forward search within a group, and an upward operation performs a backward search within a group.

If the operation of the scroll key 27 is to the right, the head data of the group immediately after the group to which the data being displayed belongs is read out and displayed (S14).
5). If the data of the last group is displayed, the first data of the first group is displayed. When the operation is to the left, the head data of the group immediately before the group to which the data being displayed belongs is read and displayed (S150). If the data of the first group is displayed, the first data of the last group is displayed.

By performing these left and right operations,
The search target can be changed to another group by the operation in the vertical direction. A rightward operation changes the search target group in the forward direction, and a leftward operation changes the search target group in the reverse direction. In addition, along with the change of the search target group, the head data of the newly searched group is displayed.

The operation of the scroll key 27 in the diagonal direction includes four operations of upper left, lower left, upper right, and lower right. FIG. 9 shows the processing when these operations are performed collectively. (S155). When the operation in the oblique direction is performed, the CPU 11 determines that the data of the group immediately before or after the group to which the data being displayed belongs, and which corresponds to the data immediately before or after the data being displayed. Read and display things.

The data of the first group or the last group is displayed. If there is no previous group or the next group, the data of the last group or the first group is read and displayed. If data in the order corresponding to the immediately preceding or succeeding data is not in the group to be read, the last or leading data of the group is read and displayed, respectively.

By performing these diagonal operations, the search target can be changed to another group. However, the newly displayed data is in a relative order based on the data being displayed, which is different from the horizontal operation of displaying the first data based on the absolute order in the group. .

After performing the processes of steps S135 to S155, the process returns to step S110, and the scroll key 27
Next operation is determined.

When the scroll key 27 is not operated in any direction, the communication key (off-hook key 24)
It is determined whether or not has been operated (S160). When the communication key is operated, a call is made using the telephone number included in the data being read and displayed (S165). If the communication key has not been operated, the process returns to step S110 to determine the operation of the scroll key 27.

Specific examples of the processes in steps S135 to S155 are shown by arrows in FIGS. In these figures, the base end of the arrow represents data displayed before processing, and the tip of the arrow represents data newly displayed in each processing. Arrow A is the downward direction of the scroll key 27, arrow B is the upward direction, arrow C is the rightward direction, arrow D is the leftward direction, arrow E is the upper leftward direction, arrow F is the lower leftward direction, arrow G is the upper rightward direction, and arrow H is the rightward direction. Corresponds to processing of a downward operation.

In order to find desired data, for example, "Tanaka" in FIG. 6 according to the first classification, the following operation is performed. FIG. 10 shows a change in the display corresponding to the operation. First, the telephone directory key 26 is operated to enter the telephone directory mode. As a result, the first data of "Abe" is displayed.
Next, the scroll key 27 is operated rightward to change the search target group. By performing three operations to the right, the data of “Suzuki” at the head of the group including the target data is displayed. Further, by operating the scroll key 27 downward, a forward search is performed within the group. The target "Tanaka" data is displayed by performing two operations in the downward direction.

In this example, the number of times the scroll 27 is operated is five times. Assuming that the search is performed one by one from the top data in the conventional manner, the scroll key operation is required 17 times. In this way, by classifying data into groups and excluding data in the middle from search targets, it is possible to quickly find target data with few key operations. Similarly, when performing a search in accordance with the second classification, the target data can be quickly found with a few key operations.

When the number of data included in the group to be searched is larger than the predetermined number, the CPU 11 shortens the display time within a range where the user can confirm the display on the display unit 16 and increases the data search speed. I do. Specifically, when the number of data in the group exceeds 10, scroll key 2
When the button 7 is continuously operated downward or upward for 2 seconds or more, the CPU 11 increases the search speed by about 1.5 times. Thus, even when the number of data in one group is large, quick data search can be performed.

Similarly, when the number of groups exceeds a predetermined number, specifically, 10, the CPU 11 shortens the data display time if the operation in the left-right direction or the diagonal direction is continued for 2 seconds or more. To change the search target group faster. Thus, when searching according to the first classification, even if the data is divided into a number of groups, the data can be searched quickly.

The search speed may be changed according to the operation speed of the scroll key 27. In particular,
If the normal operation requires 5 clock cycles from the start to the end of the movement of the key, and if the scroll key is moved quickly and only takes 2 clock cycles from the start to the end of the movement, the search speed is reduced. Be faster. The user can switch the search speed by changing the key operation speed.

In the present embodiment, the first classification into which data is divided into groups by a predetermined number is set as the order of names, but the predetermined number of data is set according to the physical data arrangement order in the RAM. It may be divided every. In that case, the logical order of the data is the order of registration. If data is grouped in the order of registration, for example, when finding relatively newly registered data, old registered data can be excluded from the search target, and key operations can be reduced. In addition, since the data arrangement for the search is in the physical data arrangement order in the RAM 13, address management is easy and there is no need to prepare an address table.

Further, in addition to the name and telephone number, the name and address of the organization to which the communication partner belongs may be stored as the electronic telephone directory data, and the data may be classified into groups based on the organization name and address. In that case, the data can be classified according to how to read the organization name or the address, or the data can be classified according to the organization unit or the prefectural unit. If the data is classified by a plurality of methods and a selection means such as the group key shown in the above embodiment is provided and the data is searched by appropriately switching the classification at the time of the search, the efficiency of the search is further improved.

The present invention can be applied not only to portable telephones but also to facsimile machines which are usually fixedly installed. Further, the electronic telephone directory does not necessarily need to be mounted on the communication terminal device, and the electronic telephone directory of the present invention may be realized by an information processing device such as a personal computer to manage an extremely large number of telephone numbers. The greater the number of data to be processed, the faster the search speed and the easier the operation.

[0049]

According to the electronic telephone directory of the first aspect, by changing the group to be searched, in order to find out the telephone number of the target communication partner from the stored data, the first data is sequentially entered. No need to display. Therefore, the telephone number can be found in a short time, and the number of key operations is reduced, so that the operability is improved.
Further, when the search target group is changed, the data of the new group is displayed, so that it is easy to know which group has become the search target.

According to the electronic telephone directory of the present invention, since the classification of data is clear and the group to which each data belongs is clear, the telephone number of the target communication partner can be easily found. If the target communication partner is not registered, it can be known only by searching data in one group, and it is not necessary to search all stored data.

In the electronic telephone directory of the third aspect, since the number of data in the group is constant, it is necessary to determine how many times the second key operation is performed before the group to which the target telephone number belongs can be searched. It is easy to understand and you can quickly find your phone number.

According to the electronic telephone directory of the present invention, it is possible to read out and display the data in the group to be searched sequentially and to change the group to be searched by using only one operating member. Very easy to operate. Further, since the number of operation members is small, the electronic telephone directory can be kept small, and is particularly suitable for being mounted on a portable communication terminal device. In addition, when the search target group is changed, it is possible to change the data to be read by using the operation in the left-right direction and the operation in the diagonal direction, thereby reducing the key operation required to read the data in the new search target group. Can be reduced.

According to the electronic telephone directory of the present invention, when a large amount of data is displayed, the display time of each data can be shortened, thereby shortening the time required for finding a target telephone number. Is done.

According to the communication terminal device of the sixth aspect, since a call is made by directly using the telephone number found from the stored data, there is no need to input the telephone number when making the call. Therefore, a call can be easily transmitted with extremely few key operations.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a portable telephone to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a part of a key operation unit and an appearance of a display unit of the mobile phone.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an appearance of a part of a key operation unit of the mobile phone.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a modification using a joystick as a scroll key.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modification using a cross key as a scroll key.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a group according to a first classification of electronic telephone directory data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a group according to a second classification of electronic telephone directory data.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of a control process of the CPU.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of a control process of the CPU in a telephone directory mode.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an operation and a change in display in searching for electronic telephone directory data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Mobile Phone 11 CPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 Communication Control Unit 15 Key Operation Unit 16 Display Unit 21 Numeric Keypad 26 Phone Book Key 27 Scroll Key 31 Alphabet Key 32 Registration Key 33 Delete Key 34 Group Key

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An electronic telephone directory which stores a plurality of data including a communication partner's name and a telephone number, sequentially reads out and displays the stored data in response to a key operation, and stores the stored data in groups. One of the classified groups is set as a search target, data of the search target group is sequentially read and displayed by a first key operation, and a group to be searched is changed by a second key operation. And an electronic telephone directory for reading and displaying data of a new search target group. 2. The electronic telephone directory according to claim 1, wherein the data is classified into groups of 50 sounds in line units according to the first sound of the name. 3. The electronic telephone directory according to claim 1, wherein the data is classified into a predetermined number of groups according to the stored order. 4. An operation member which can be operated in up and down directions, left and right directions and four oblique directions obliquely intersecting these directions, wherein the operation in the up and down direction of the operation member is the first key operation, and Operation in the second direction and the operation in the oblique direction
2. The electronic telephone directory according to claim 1, wherein data read by the second key operation is different between the left-right operation and the diagonal operation, in addition to the key operation of (1). 5. The electronic telephone directory according to claim 1, wherein a time for displaying data is changed according to the number of data displayed by key operation. 6. A communication terminal device comprising the electronic telephone directory according to claim 1, wherein a call is transmitted using a telephone number included in displayed data.